For those of you who, like my husband, have never heard of the term a “Mary Sue,” an explainer: the term “Mary Sue” originated in the world of fan fiction and referred to an unrealistically flawless character. Over time, the term “Mary Sue” has predominately come to refer to female characters who (mostly) male fantasy and sci-fi fans refuse to accept as being of capable of heroic traits. Think Rey in the new Star Wars films — a character that some fans disliked because she knew how to repair and pilot a ship and wield a lightsaber “too easily” and without training. Never mind that her entire back story as a lone scavenger who defended herself with a staff established her ability to do all of these things, and never mind that Luke Skywalker destroyed the Death Star with no training, and never mind that Anakin Skywalker was a genius robotics expert and pilot with zero training AT NINE, the real complaint is that SHE’S A GIRL AND THEREFORE SHE CAN’T DO THAT.
So now fast forward to Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones in which Arya — SPOILER ALERT (except, LOL, for who? who doesn’t know what happened by now?) — kills the Night King. And yes, even though from the LITERAL first moment we met her, Arya was outshooting her brother with a bow and arrow, and even though she spends four entire seasons surviving on her own and one entire season training with a team of magical assassins, even though every. single. thing. Arya has done over the course of the series has been teaching and leading Arya to this very moment, there are still some misogynistic shitbirds out there who are calling Arya a “Mary Sue” because she was the hero and not Jon. Even Maisie Williams’ boyfriend was disappointed it wasn’t Jon at the end. (Girl, dump him.)
You know what that kind of talk is going to get you? A prime spot on Arya’s list:
And this is the original version of the Game of Thrones sketch, which somehow I missed, from two weeks ago:
New ‘Gay of Thrones,’ darlings. “I SAID BRRRR, IT’S COLD IN HERE, THERE MUST BE SOME DRAGONS IN THE ATMOSPHERE.”
Y’all can go visit the Catspaw Dagger at Texas A&M.
Here’s the Night King’s theme from Sunday’s episode. The music from this episode has proven to be surprisingly divisive. Personally, I liked it very much, though I spent a lot of the episode wondering why they were using Cersei’s theme. As it turns out, I wasn’t entirely wrong to think that — the composer himself discussed how they were inspired by Cersei’s theme for this one here.
Here’s a piece about the folks in London who landed themselves a free Game of Thrones tattoo.
Ugh, a study suggests that there was a significant spike in the number of teen suicides in the month after 13 Reasons Why premiered on Netflix. Like, a 28.9% increase.
This is brilliant:
The final season of Mr. Robot is going to be an extended Christmas special. Whatever that means.
Here’s a great piece about the wonderful D’Arcy Carden and how it took her a criminal amount of time to be discovered for the comedic genius she is.
Contestants on Jeopardy! can no longer bet $69. NOT NICE.
A reminder that Kareem Abdul Jabbar is a Veronica Mars writer.
Cynthia Nixon has some thoughts on the lack of diversity on Sex and the City. OK.
Fran Drescher continues to hint at a Nanny reboot, but nothing is actually happening.
Lucille Ball’s notes and photographs are going to be preserved by the National Comedy Center.
Some President Bullshitter news I ignored this week: So over on Fox News, Judge Andrew Napolitano has had some increasingly harsh words for the Obstructor-in-Chief, going so far as to call Trump “criminal.”
“Prosecutors prosecute people who interfere with government functions and that’s what the president did by obstruction, where is this going to end? I don’t know, but I am disappointed in the behavior of the president,” Napolitano said last week.
“If he had ordered his aides to violate federal law to save a human life or to preserve human freedom, he would at least have a moral defense to his behavior,” he added. “But ordering them to break federal law to save him from the consequences of his own behavior, that is immoral, that is criminal, that is defenseless, that is condemnable.”
HE SAID THAT! ON FOX NEWS!
Obviously, President Baby Hands couldn’t take this lying down:
And Napolitano responded yesterday: “This is the way you treat your friends? How do you treat your enemies?” the judge said while opening up the segment on Monday morning. “He wanted to divert attention from what Mueller had said about him and what I had commented about Mueller to his relationship with me. His relationship with me is not the story. He and I have been friends for 30 years and probably will be for the next 30 years.”
This is an interesting piece about the tricky place Fox News and Lachlan Murdoch is in, trapped between unhappy advertisers and actual journalists, and The-Number-One-Viewer-in-Chief, but the biggest takeaway for me is that Sean Hannity is thinking about to leaving the network when his contract expires in 2021? HUH. INTERESTING. AND NOT NECESSARILY IN A GOOD WAY.
Here’s your moment of zen:
Ratings
- Blindspot has been removed from NBC’s schedule until the end of May, which can’t be a good sign for the show, which is already relegated to Friday nights.
- Bless This Mess is having a good showing over on ABC and is likely to be renewed.
- Life in Pieces may have a chance at a fifth season on CBS.
Renewals
- On My Block has been renewed for a third season on Netflix.
Casting News
- Jade Pettyjohn, Megan Stott, Lexi Underwood, Gavin Lewis, and Jordan Elsass have been added to the cast of Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu. They join Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington, and Rosemarie DeWitt.
Mark Your Calendars
- ScreenTime: Diane Sawyer Reporting will air on ABC on May 3.
- Unraveling The Mystery: A Big Bang Farewell will air on CBS on May 16.
- The VMAs are going to air on MTV on August 26. They’re going to be held in Newark this year. Huh.
- Desus & Mero are going to air two episodes a week beginning in May. It airs on Showtime.
WATCH THIS
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Dorit and Kyle’s tensions blow up at Teddi’s dinner party. 8 p.m., Bravo
The 100: A small group explores a new planet in the season premiere. 8 p.m., The CW
On Tour with Asperger’s Are Us: A documentary following a comedy troupe as they embark on a six-week tour. 7 p.m., HBO
Mexican Dynasties: I really wanted to watch this series, but considering that at this moment I have — and this is not an exaggeration — 182 recordings on my DVR, I just couldn’t find room. Season finale. 9 p.m., Bravo
Late Night:
- Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Charlize Theron, Desus & Mero, Robert Irwin
- Late Night with Seth Meyers: Seth Rogen, Jared Harris, Lyric Lewis, Valerie Franco
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Christina Applegate, Van Jones, Bear Grylls
- The Late Late Show with James Corden: Topher Grace, Jason Schwartzman, Chad Daniels
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: Zac Efron, Lena Waithe, Pentatonix
- The Daily Show: Jesse Williams
- Conan: Dax Shepard
- Busy Tonight: Geena Davis
- Watch What Happens Live: Dorit Kemsley, Boy George
| TUES. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | American Housewife (new) |
The Kids Are Alright (repeat) |
black-ish (new) |
Bless This Mess (new) |
1969 (new) |
| CBS | NCIS (new) |
FBI (new) |
NCIS: New Orleans (new) |
| CW | The Flash (new) |
The 100 (new) |
Local |
| FOX | MasterChef Junior (new) |
Mental Samurai (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | The Village (new) |
The Voice (new) |
New Amsterdam (new) |